Automatic embroidery machine



April 16, 1968 H. FIRESTEIN ET AL 3,377,971

AUTOMATIC EMBROIDERY MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1964 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORS HARRY FIRESTEIN KARL TYAS BY EDWARD FREEMAN April 16, 1968 H.FIRESTEIN ET AL AUTOMATIC EMBROIDERY MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1964 4Sheets-Sheet 2 N g o m mini I M Q LL.

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INVENTORS HARRY FIRESTEIN KARL TYAS BY EDWARD FREEMAN fiq/W ATTORNEYApril 16, 1968 H. FIRESTEIN ET AL 3,377,971

AUTOMATIC EMBROIDERY MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 5, 1964 INVENTORS LTYAS BY EDWARD FREMAN ATTONEY IIII NM 7 1 g mw TQM wm w Q mm 5 m mmApril 16, 1968 H. FIRESTEIN ET AL 3,377,971

AUTOMATIC EMBROIDERY MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I I L5/ I 5 l g I 59 45 46 I I 47 I I I 0' I f I5 4/ 5 l 5 p 4 I NVENTORSATTORNEY United States Patent 3,377,971 AUI'GMATIC EMBRGIDERY MACHINEHarry Firestein, Barrington, El, and Karl Tyas, Ocean Grove, and EdwardFreeman. Fall River, Mass, assigners, hy mesne assignments, to LouisHand incorporated,

a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Nov. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 408,557 4Ciaims. (Cl. 112-102) Our present invention relates to embroiderymachinery and more particularly to a novel construction of anautomatically operated embroidery machine.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide anembroidery machine which is preset to produce the desired designautomatically.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an embroiderymachine for producing fancy borders, initials, lettering or similaritems without the necessity of manually guiding the needle on a prefixeddesign on the clot Another object of the present invention is to providean embroidery machine in which the design is automatically traced by themachine and not by any manual manipulation of the operator thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automaticembroidery machine which is an improvement over the existin types ofmanually operated machines.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automaticembroidery machine which is simple in construction and easy andeconomical to manufacture and assemble.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, ourinvention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosedin the detailed description following, in conjunction with theaccompanying drawin s, and more particularly defined in the appendedclaims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embroidery machine embodying ourpresent invention sewing a design on a piece of cloth.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation showing the operative parts of the machine.

FlG. 3 is a perspective view of the operating parts mounted below thesewing head.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view showing the cam and lever arrangement.

FIG. 5 is a section tat-zen on line 5-5 on FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the cam drive.

Machines are normally provided for producing fancy embroidery designs asa border on material or On any sewable material and also for producingnames, initials, lettering of any type and small designs. These machinesnormally operate with a head which can be manually directed in any givendirection. The design or initial is chalked or otherwise traced on thematerial. The operator feeds the material under the needle and manuallyturns the head to follow the design on the material. A well knownmachine designed for this purpose is imported from Europe and known as aCornely Embroidery Machine. The presser foot on this machine is designedto push or feed the material in any direction in which it is faced. Themachine is provided with a manually operable lever or crank just underthe table which the operator turns to swing the sewing head in anydirection to follow the tracing of the design on the material passingunder the needle. This type of operation is therefore slow and costlyand requires operators with skills developed from constantly running themachine.

3,377,971 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 ice The present invention is designedto provide a machine of the Cornely type illustrated in US. Patent83,910, which is completely automatic in operation. The machine of thepresent invention does not require the design to be traced on the clothand does not require the operator to manipulate the machine to trace outthe design. In the machine of the present invention the design is presetin the machine by means of multiple cams. It is therefore only necessaryfor the operator to place the material to be embroidered beneath thesewing needle and to pass it beneath the needle. The machine does therest. Accuracy, high speed and much lower costs with unskilled labor ispossible with the machine of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the machine is mounted on a suitable table 1% onwhich is positioned the sewing machine horizontal standard 11 and sewinghead 12. Within said sewing head 12 is a conventional swivel headincluding an annular sewing foot 13 which surrounds the needle. Saidsewing foot 13 can be swiveled in any direction and which vibrates tomove the material in the direction in which it is faced. These types ofmachines usually sew a chain stitch, and the embroidery or initials orother insignia can be readily spelled out with the thread itself.However, it is customary to have the chain stitch sew a piece of tapetracing out the desired design. Accordingly FIG. 1 shows the machineequipped with the spool of tape 14 which is mounted above the head 12and the tape is fed through the head beneath the needle to form theembroidery 15 on the material. A large bolster 16 is provided to windthe material and help pull it through the machine. Power to the sewingmachine head is provided in. a vconventional manner by means of thepulley wheel 17' driven through a belt 18 from the motor 19 mountedbeneath the table it) as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Suspended beneath the table 10 as by posts 29 is an auxiliary table 21on which the control mechanism is mounted. As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and3, the drive motor 19 is actually mounted or suspended from the rearportion of the auxiliary table 21. Swivel movement of the embroideryhead is controlled by a vertical shaft 22 extending between the table 19and the auxiliary table 21 and supported in a block 23 positioned on theauxiliary table 21. Intermediate the ends of the shaft 22 is a collar 2-which joins the upper and lower portions of the shaft and takes theplace of the manually operated gear with which the machine is originallyequipped. In accordance with the present invention operation of theshaft 22 and the conventional swivel mechanism within head 12 iscontrolled automatically by the mechanism mounted at the bottom of theauxiliary table 21 and driven by the mechanism mounted on top of theauxiliary table 21 and between the table 19 and the table 21.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 6, a horizontal driving shaft 25 is mountedon the auxiliary table 21 in spaced supports 26. The left end of thetable 21 is provided with a C-shaped support 27 in which a verticaldrive shaft 28 is mounted. The drive shaft 28 is surrounded by a wormgear 2 which is in turn driven by the worm 30 mounted at the left end ofthe horizontal shaft 25. The right end of the shaft 25 is driven througha coupling 31, shaft 32 and pulley wheel 33. Rotation is provided by abelt 34 driven by the same pulley wheel 17 which drives the machine head11 as shown in FIG. 2. This provides the power for the operation of themechanism which controls the shaft 22 and the movement of the embroideryhead 12.

Mounted on the shaft 28, beneath the auxiliary table 21 are a pair ofspaced earns 35 and 36 separated by a spacer coller 37. The cams 35 and35 are therefore simultaneously rotated through the shaft 28 worm gear29 and shaft 25 from the power supply hereinabove described.

Now referring to FIG. 4, the earns and 36 are designed to operate upon aplura ity of lovers pivotally mounted beneath the auxiliary table 21.The pointed end 33 of the lever arm 39 bears against the right side ofthe inner cam 35 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. An L-shaped lever 40 ispivoted at one end 41 to the auxiliary table 21 and intermediate itsends it is connected by a pivot pin 42 to the lever arm 39. The outerend of the L-shaped lever 40 is attached to a coil spring 43 having itsopposite end mounted in a fixed bar 44 extending from the table 21. Withthis arrangement it is obvious that the spring 43 urges the lever arm 40pivotally counterclockwise, thus resiliently pulling the point of thelever arm 39 against the edge of the cam 35. The lever arm 39 will thusmove horizontally, viewing FIG. 4, as it rides over the various bumpsand convolutions of the cam 35. The rear end of the lever arm 39 ispivoted at 45 to a lever 46 pivotally mounted at 47 to the auxiliarytable 21. In spaced relation to the lever 46 is another lever 48 alsopivoted at 49 to the table 21, the pivot 47 being approximately in thecenter of the pivot 46, whereas the pivot 49 is adjacent one end of thepivot 48. The outer ends of the levers 46 and 48 are pivotally connectedby a short lever bar 50. The other end of the lever 48 is connected at apivot point 51 to a lever arm 52 which is pivotally connected at 53 to acollar 54 mounted at the bottom extension of the shaft 22. Thus movementof the cam 35 will be transmitted through the point 38, lever 39, to thelever 46, which will rock about its pivot 47. This is transmitted to thebar 50, to the lever 48, which rocks about its pivot 49, pushing thelever arm 52 and causing rotating movement of the collar 54. This willrotate the shaft 22 and in turn the swivel mechanism within sewing head12 which will cause change in direction of the embroidery stitching.

The second lower cam 36 also operates a series of levers illustrated inFIG. 4. The point 55 of the lever arm 56 bears against the edge of thecam 36 ninety degrees removed from the point 38 of the lever arm 39. AnL- shaped lever arm 57 is pivoted at one end 58 to the auxiliary tableand its outer end 59 is attached to one end of a spring 60, the otherend of the spring 66 being attached to the fixed bar 44. Thus theresilient action of the spring 60 tends to move the lever arm 57 towardsthe cam 36 thus holding the point 55 of the lever bar 56 resilientlyagainst the cam 36 at the pivotal connection 61. The outer end of thelever arm 56 is pivoted at 62 to a horizontal lever bar 63 which ispivotally connected adjacent the pivot point 62 to the auxiliary table21. The

outer end of the lever bar 63 is pivotally connected at 64 to a straightlever bar 65 attached to the pivot point 53, the same pivot point towhich the lever bar 52 is connected.

Thus the movement of the cam 36 will cause the movement of the shortlever bar 56, pivotal movement of the lever bar 63, and movement of thelever arm 65 hearing against the pivot point 53 on the collar 54. Thisresults in a movement of the collar 54 and rotation of the shaft 22 as aresultant of the action of the two cams 35 and 36. This is necessary inorder to allow a rotation of the swivel head which will permit a virtual360 embroidery. Thus, to enable the swivel head to move to provide theloops and swirls as illustrated in FIG. 1, two cams are provided, onetending to move the swivel head to sew in a vertical direction and theother tending to move the swivel head to sew in a horizontal direction,and the final movement is the resultant of two forces. Rotation of thecollar 54 and shaft 22 is from a single point operated on by the leversprovided from each cam to provide the resultant of the two forces.

Operation of the machine is thus obvious. The design is worked out inadvance and after proper graphing the two cams are cut and matched. Thecams are mounted in position on the shaft 28 in Spaced relation so thatthe levers bear against them as. illu tr t in FIG. 4-

Note that the springs 43 and 66 take up any variations in the cams andhold the points 38 and 55 against the cams regardless of the size ordepth of the cuts on the edge of the cam. The operator now positions thematerial beneath the sewing head 12 and starts the machine. No furtherguidance is required. The machine will sew the stitch or tape on thematerial in the direction required in response to the rotating movementof the shaft 22. Power to the cam is provided through the shaft 25 ashereinabove described. Since the cams are driven off the pulley wheel17, when the machine is stopped the cams stop and when the machine isstarted the cams start so that there can be no differential betweenthetwo. The machine can thus be operated at a much greater speed thanthe manual tracing of the design, and the design is completely uniformregardless of the number of pieces of material that are fed through themachine. Furthermore, the cams can be removed and stored and used againat a later date to repeate the same designs. The operator need not beskilled and is only required to replenish the thread or tape and feedthe material under the needle. Other advantages of the present inventionwill be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In an embroidery machine, a sewing mechanism having a swivel sewinghead, means for driving said sewing mechanism, means for swiveling saidhead, a rotatable shaft for operating said swivel means, a collar onsaid rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, axially aligned, disc camsmounted on a single drive shaft for embroidering a predetermined design,each of said cams having a pointed follower arm resiliently urgedagainst the cam edge, said follower arms being at to each other, each ofsaid follower arms being pivotally connected to a lever arrangement,said lever arrangements both terminating at the same pivot point on saidcollar, said lever arrangements extending to said common pivot point ata 90 angle to each other, and means for rotating said cam drive shaftduring the operation of said sewing mechanism drive means.

2. An embroidery machine as in claim 1 wherein said lever arrangementsare pivoted to multiply the movement of said cam follower arms.

3. An embroidery machine as in claim 1 wherein said sewing mechanismdrive comprises a pulley wheel on said sewing mechanism, an electricmotor, and a drive belt connecting said motor to said pulley wheel, aworm gear mounted on said cam prive shaft, a drive shaft having a wormat one end meshing with said worm gear, a pulley wheel mounted at theother end of said drive shaft, and a second drive belt connecting saidcam shaft pulley wheel with said sewing mechanism pulley wheel.

4. An embroidery machine as in claim 2 wherein said sewing mechanismdrive comprises a pulley wheel on said sewing mechanism, and electricmotor, and a drive belt connecting said motor to said pulley wheel, aWorm gear mounted on said cam drive shaft, a drive shaft having a wormat one end meshing with said worm gear, a pulley wheel mounted at theother end of said drive shaft, and a second drive belt connecting saidcam shaft pulley wheel with said sewing mechanism pulley wheel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 714,817 12/1902 Nadel 112 1021,603,644 10/1926 Sibbald etal "112-102 1, 11,372 12/1926 Rader 112 9s2,264,779 12/1941 Tillett .112 102 2,797,656 7/1957 Reid 112147X FOREIGNPATENTS 480,788 8/1929 Germany.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

ALFRED R. GUEST, Examiner.

1. IN AN EMBROIDERY MACHINE, A SEWING MECHANISM HAVING A SWIVEL SEWINGHEAD, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID SEWING MECHANISM, MEANS FOR SWIVELING SAIDHEAD, A ROTATABLE SHAFT FOR OPERATING SAID SWIVEL MEANS, A COLLAR ONSAID ROTATABLE SHAFT, A PAIR OF SPACED, AXIALLY ALIGNED, DISC CAMSMOUNTED ON A SINGLE DRIVE SHAFT FOR EMBROIDERING A PREDETERMINED DESIGN,EACH OF SAID CAMS HAVING A POINTED FOLLOWER ARM RESILIENTLY URGEDAGAINST THE CAM EDGE, SAID FOLLOWER ARMS BEING AT 90* TO EACH OTHER,EACH OF SAID FOLLOWER ARMS BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO A LEVERARRANGEMENT, SAID LEVER ARRANGEMENTS BOTH TERMINATING AT THE SAME PIVOTPOINT ON SAID COLLAR, SAID LEVER ARRANGEMENTS EXTENDING TO SAID COMMONPIVOT POINT AT A 90* ANGLE TO EACH OTHER, AND MEANS FOR ROTATING SAIDCAM DRIVE SHAFT DURING THE OPERATION OF SAID SEWING MECHANISM DRIVEMEANS.